Breath is life and it’s free

When you stop and think about it, breathing is the gift of life and it’s
free. Focussing on your breathing is a proven way to manage
stress. It will help you stay calm and focused throughout the day and
it will help you sleep at night. Investing 42 seconds, 3 times a day
(more if you choose) to learn this vital skill will pay for itself over
and over again.In these 42 seconds signals sent to your brain say that the threat is
over and the Parasympathetic part of the Autonomic Nervous System starts to
reverse the biochemical and physiological changes brought about by the stress
response.
While breathing is controlled mainly through the Autonomic Nervous
System, you can consciously influence your breathing and help switch
off the stress response through changing your breathing style from fast and
short to slow and deep breathing.

Learning conscious breathing

You just need to learn how to bring awareness to your
breath. Just like any other skill it takes a bit of
practise. All it takes is 42 seconds of conscious breathing, 3
times a day. Before you go to sleep, when you awaken and once during the
day is a start. Try it for 4 weeks, you can practise at any
time, in any place, and no one will even be aware what you are doing.
Practise when sitting on a bus, a train or in traffic, before and during a
visit to the dentist or doctor, before a job interview, an exam or giving
a presentation, do it before meeting someone new.

How to practise conscious breathing:

1. Take a deep breath in and out, notice if your in breath and out breath are similar, for example, as long or as short as each other

I am an experienced therapist with over 15 years experience.
I practise in Botany on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday
and Miranda on Friday.
I am an accredited supervisor with Australian Hypnotherapy Association (AHA) and Australian Counselling Association (ACA).